Wedding venue specialists the Oldwalls Collection has expanded with the acquisition of the Llansantffraed Court Hotel in Abergavenny in a £3.5m deal.
The Swansea-based group will invest an additional £1.5m into the grade 2 listed property and create more than 50 jobs. Work on a refurbishment and restoration of the property is already under way. It will host its first wedding from June, 2022.
The latest venue for the group adds to its wedding focused Oldwalls Gower and Fairyhill hotels. The group also offers seven holiday cottages.
The new property will be renamed, Sant Ffraed House by Oldwalls,and takes the value of the group’s property portfolio to more than £20m.
Managing director, Andrew Hole, who set up the group in 2008 with his brother Simon, said: “Its no secret that the wedding and events industry has been one of the most badly disrupted. We have had to postpone over 500 weddings across the group during the past 18 months and some couples are on their third or fourth date.
"As we’ve prioritised the business on the books, we are extremely limited in terms of accommodating newly engaged couples, especially if they are looking for weekends in 2022 and so we sought a solution to provide more choice.
"Some may consider this a bad time for a hospitality business to expand, but as the economy and wedding industry bounces back we feel the timing has never been better. A wedding is a rite-of-passage and there is a pent-up demand due to couples not wishing to book during lockdown, abroad wedding plans disrupted and of course couples are getting engaged every day.
"All quality venues across Wales are pretty much fully booked for the next two years an a new wedding venue is just what Wales needs.”
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Sant Ffraed House by Oldwalls will offer a reception and ceremony space for at least 150 guests. The property is set within 330 acres of historic estate with views of Sugar Loaf Mountain.
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Mr Hole said: “We are committed to spending and employing local where possible and plan to build a brand-new team of at least 50 over the next 12 months. We know recruitment is going to be one of our toughest challenges given the resource shortage in the hospitality industry at the moment.
"Our aim will be to attract the best and develop new local talent by offering above and beyond hospitality standard wage and the promise of training.”